Revival Season
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Average rating3.3
Every summer, fifteen-year-old Miriam Horton and her family pack themselves tight in their old minivan and travel through small southern towns for revival season: the time when Miriam’s father—one of the South’s most famous preachers—holds massive healing services for people desperate to be cured of ailments and disease.This summer, the revival season doesn’t go as planned, and after one service in which Reverend Horton’s healing powers are tested like never before, Miriam witnesses a shocking act of violence that shakes her belief in her father—and in her faith.
When the Hortons return home, Miriam’s confusion only grows as she discovers she might have the power to heal—even though her father and the church have always made it clear that such power is denied to women. Over the course of the next year, Miriam must decide between her faith, her family, and her newfound power that might be able to save others, but, if discovered by her father, could destroy Miriam.
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I spent a lot of time in revivals growing up in rural Southern Missouri. Ms. West captures the essence of the evangelical movement and the particular religious fervor engendered by ecstatic experiences and psychological manipulation. She also catches the violence, jealousy, and turf guarding that is often acted out by “God's people”.
This is a good read, but it definitely is not pleasant.
I'm always willing to broaden the scope of topics I read and pick up. It was a “newer” release when I got to it from my library so there weren't that many reviews at the time. Hindsight would've worked well in my favor here so I could have read some in depth reviews and decided stronger that this wasn't going to be for me.
Of course, I had to read this. Of course, there might be a slight religious obsession due to lowkey religious trauma. This is the story of Miriam, whose father is a preacher and healer/revival leader. He has a problem with his temper and his violence and his hubris. Fancy that. Every summer, they leave their little town for three months to go on a revival tour. The summer before the book starts, her father lost his temper and punched a pregnant girl in the stomach. So the book starts out with this year's revivals already in trouble. And it does get worse. Miriam's father gets called out for being a phony by a man, and proceeds to beat said man. Outside the tent, out of view of all the parishioners, but Miriam follows and sees. And her whole world comes crashing down.
And then she learns that she can heal.
There are going to be trigger warnings for abuse, physical, emotional, psychological, and religious; sexism; cutting; birth and discussions of stillbirths.
Miriam's story is extra. I grew up in New England in an SBC church, child of a pastor. So the whole Southern thing didn't match my childhood, nor did the abuse. But I could still relate to a lot of the things Miriam experiences, even though my spiritual realizations came much later. So yeah, this book hit close to home, despite differences. It's not an easy read, but for anyone dealing with religious trauma, even if not religious abuse, this is a should-read.
